# Cancer Research UK reaches landmark £100 million target towards Francis Crick Institute

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2016/08/08/cancer-research-uk-reaches-landmark-100m-target-towards-francis-crick-institute/
- Published: 2016-08-08T10:30:11+01:00
- Author: Melanie May

**Cancer Research UK has announced that it has now raised £100m towards the overall
£650 million cost of building the Francis Crick Institute: its new medical research
facility in London.**

The building in King’s Cross St Pancras is nearing completion with scientists due
to move in soon. It will house 1,200 leading scientists from a variety of disciplines
working together to tackle the biggest health challenges.

The Crick is a collaboration between Cancer Research UK, the [Medical Research Council](http://www.mrc.ac.uk/),
the [Wellcome Trust](https://wellcome.ac.uk/), UCL (University College London), 
King’s College London and Imperial College, London.

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The charity launched its [Create The Change](http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/support-us/donate/francis-crick-institute/story-behind-the-campaign)
campaign in 2011 and announced plans to raise the figure.

In 2013, [it announced it had raised a third of the target](https://fundraising.co.uk/2013/06/06/cancer-research-uks-largest-capital-appeal-is-one-third-funded/),
raising the full amount last month, and making this the charity’s most successful
high-value fundraising campaign.

The £100 million raised is one of the largest philanthropic charitable campaigns
ever in the UK, and was led by a volunteer development board chaired by Charles 
Manby.

A US$25m donation was also made by HSBC, Cancer Research UK’s largest ever gift.

Most of the £100m was raised through major gifts, although the public was also encouraged
to support the appeal through [a fully integrated fundraising campaign](https://blog.whitehat-seo.co.uk/life-science-marketing-an-effective-inbound-marketing-strategy)
which asked them to ‘Be Part of the Crick’s DNA’, which included channels such as
digital, outdoor, social media, press and PR, face-to-face and direct mail.

In addition, more than £3 million was raised by the charity’s 2015 London Marathon
runners, with a quarter of a million pounds raised from an auction of unique DNA-
inspired sculptures created by artists and designers including Ai Weiwei and the
late Zaha Hadid.

The fundraising campaign has taken Cancer Research UK’s overall commitment to building
the Crick to £160 million, with the extra £60m arising from the sale of its existing
research laboratories in London.
Sir Harpal Kumar, Cancer Research UK chief executive,
said:

> “Through collaboration and sharing insights across many different disease areas,
> the Crick will make a unique global contribution to our understanding of their
> causes and drivers.
> “This cross pollination of knowledge, delivered through state
> of the art facilities and the best scientific minds, will accelerate and deepen
> our understanding of how cancer starts, spreads and develops, ultimately improving
> the lives of patients across the world.”